Why does he have to do that?
by LOTRlover1066
Summary: Ron and his family leave for Romania for the Summer and Harry spends the holidays with Hermione's family. Will they realize they have something for each other? Or will they just remain best friends?
1. OWL results, Romania, and invitations

Harry sat in his bedroom in Number 4 Privet Drive. He had just finished his 5th year at Hogwarts and was awaiting his OWL results. The Dursleys were very happy he had chosen to remain in his room after what happened with Dudley and the dementors last summer. They were not eager for something like that to happen again.

Finally, a barn owl appeared at his window. It had his OWL results. Harry relieved it of its burden, allowed it to have some food and water from Hedwig's cage, and then it flew off again. Harry was quite surprised at his results. He received an 'E' for Potions. Everything else was very much like he had expected. He sat and wondered about why Professor Snape had graded him so highly.

Finally, Hedwig returned from her mission. She had left the previous night with a letter for Ron asking when they would come and rescue him from his torture chamber. Ron wrote:

_Hi Harry,_

_Sorry about being trapped in Privet Drive. I'm afraid I have some bad news. I can't rescue you this Summer. Something's come up with Charlie and we have to go to Romania for the Summer. We'll be back at the end of the Summer. Why don't you ask Hermione? I think she's staying in town this Summer.  
See ya,_

_Ron_

Harry folded up the letter and wrote to Hermione asking if she could rescue him. He sent Hedwig off and went to sleep. The following afternoon Hedwig had returned with Hermione's answer. She had written:

Harry- 

_Sounds like you're having a really miserable summer. Mum and Dad said you can come and stay with us for the rest of the Summer. Dad will come pick you up on Friday. He is going to come the Muggle way, so be sure to tell your aunt and uncle. See you soon,_

_Hermione._

Feeling very happy, Harry went downstairs, and told Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia Hermione's message which included the bit about coming the 'normal' way. Uncle Vernon was very pleased by two things in this message: getting rid of Harry for the Summer, and someone in his lot knows how to come normally. He than began to ask what kind of car he drove which harry had to confess: "I've only met Mr. Granger once, and that was four summers ago."

"What is his profession?"

"He and Mrs. Granger are dentists."

"Good. Now, get yourself out of my sight until Dinner time. Got it?"

"yes Sir." Harry then went up to his room to finish any last minute homework so Hermione couldn't say that he didn't do any homework. Once he was finished, he sat and waited, and just couldn't wait until Friday and keaving the Dursley's for the Summer.


	2. Summer with the Grangers

When Friday came at long last, Harry was sitting downstairs with his trunk and Hedwig. At around noon Mr. Granger arrived. He talked to Uncle Vernon about teeth while Uncle Vernon lectured him about drills. Half an hour later they finally left. On the car ride Mr. Granger talked to Harry about work and, of course, school. Harry began to like him more and more as the two of them continued to talk. An hour later they arrived at a new neighborhood. It was at last the one they were looking for.

"Here we are. Home Sweet Home" Mr. Granger said at last as they pulled into a nearby driveway and walked into the house. Harry had been in lots of different houses, but none of them quite compared with this one. It was relatively clean with the exception of scattered children's toys that looked like the owners had to be elementary school age. A few minutes later a woman appeared and said, "You must be Harry. I'm Mrs. Granger". Harry replied with, "It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Granger". At that exact moment Hermione came down the stairs with a younger girl and two boys, who Harry assumed to be the owners of the scattered toys. "Hi Harry. It's great to see you. I'm so glad you could come stay with us". "I'm glad too". He replied. Hermione continued with, "This is my sister Molly, she's 11 and starting at Hogwarts this year. And these are my brothers Ned and Ed. They go to a muggle elementary school. Ned is 8, and Ed is 6". "It's nice to meet you three" Harry answered politely.

Hermione told Harry about her summer so far. She finished her homework, obviously, within the first time and afterwards spent time with her family. Harry told her all about his 'adventures' on Privet Drive while Ron was off in Romania for some secret reason that he wasn't telling them. "Why did he do that? Why didn't he tell you?" Hermione wondered. "Dunno. Maybe there's something going on that he isn't supposed to tell me like what was going on with the Order last Summer" Harry suggested. Hermione replied with, "That's not very likely".

At Dinner Mr. And Mrs. Granger told Harry about the neighborhood and Harry was fascinated with all the detail. It was then suggested that they all go on an outing the following morning, so they all decided to have a picnic in the park. While there they met up with to unexpected, but yet still familiar, faces. Seamus and Dean were there as well. They obviously lived nearby, and so they were in the park. They joined them for Lunch before going home again. Harry, Hermione, and her family went home again soon after where they played Chess, chatted, and enjoyed spending time together.

Summer was going by so quickly after that, that Harry didn't even realize that it was the day before his 16th birthday. The following day they were going to go to Diagon Alley for school supplies. Little did Harry know that others than the Grangers had plans in store for him which would begin the road to Harry's defeat of Voldemort once and for all.


	3. Diagon Alley

Diagon Alley

Harry awoke the next morning and suddenly realized that it was his birthday. He went downstairs for breakfast and was greeted with a chorus of "Happy Birthday Harry" from everyone. Harry thanked them and afterwards they all set off for London.

They arrived at the Leaky Cauldron and were greeted by a rather slow, carefully speaking, sort of man. They figured he must be new to that area of England because he had a slight accent that showed that he had to be from somewhere else in Britain.

As they walked around Diagon Alley they speculated who this mysterious man could be because his accent showed that he was new to the area. They were also speculated what he was doing in this area when he was obviously from elsewhere. They also spent some time at the Ice Cream Parlor, and Hermione told Harry how much she really enjoyed having him stay with them over the Summer.

Harry soon discovered that it was more than being one of Hermione's best friends that made him want to spend a lot of time with her, it was how she made him feel that made him want to be with her. He was beginning to fall in love with her more and more with each passing day. However, he knew that this would outdo him in the end as Voldemort was sure to take advantage of this if he knew. Harry had to be extra careful as he already knew that there was nothing he wanted more than to return at full power and for Harry to be dead. HE would stop at NOTHING to achieve that. Harry tried not to focus all his energy on that, school was going to start up again soon, and they were hoping to find out why Ron had to be in Romania all of a sudden for some secret reason. They were determined to find out why he communicate all summer. They looked forward to seeing him again and getting all things on their minds answered.


	4. Back to Hogwarts

The Hogwarts Express

Harry would never have imagined a summer quite like this past one, he was really looking forward to going back to school and seeing Ron again. He was still wondering who the man they crossed paths with in Diagon Alley could possibly be. The best guess he and Hermione could come up with was that he had a new job in the area. After the breakfasted they retrieved their trunks, Hedwig, and Crookshanks and headed down to the train station for the train back to school.

As usual, Kings Cross was more than a little crowded. There were people rushing to get to their trains on time wherever you looked. When they reached the barrier they charged at it and soon they arrived at Platform 9 3./4. After finding Molly a seat they found Ron and said their hellos. As the train began to move out of the platform the three began to look for seats for themselves. One of the problems with looking for seats while the train's moving is always that most of them are taken.

They did find a compartment only half full near the back of the train. Most compartments could hold six if they smushed in close to each other. The only compartment with seats empty was occupied by two third year and a second year in their own house. They took the seats with Third years Stewart Ackerly (Ravenclaw) and Stefano Montoya (Hufflepuff), and their friend, a second year named Euan Abercrombie (Gryffindor). The trio sat down and started talking about their summers.

Harry told Ron about his miserable two weeks on Privet, and spending the rest of the summer with Hermione; and the two of them told him about the man they crossed paths with while in Diagon Alley. Ron was very amazed with the amount of detail the two of them gave. He told them about Romania and it sounded like he had a good time. His entire family was there: his parents, Bill, Percy, the twins, himself, Ginny, and of course, Charlie.

They finally figured out through what Ron told them, that it was sounded like Charlie had gotten married to one of his friends' sister. She fit in pretty well with the family. They also learned that Percy had married Penelope within the last year as well. They were quite relieved to have an explanation to why he was in Romania all summer. HE also explained that he couldn't put that in writing in case Pig got intercepted or his letter fell into the wrong hands.

Harry and Hermione were so happy with this news that they were grinning from ear to ear. They weren't that surprised with the news that Percy was married, but that Charlie was as well was a happy bit of news. They were so excited talking that they didn't realize that they were only about ten minutes or so from Hogwarts. When they got there they said their hellos to Hagrid and headed for the carriages and for the castle desperately hoping that Molly would joining them in Gryffindor.


	5. The sorting Hat and First night

The Sorting and the First night

The carriage ride was the same as always and finally arrived at the castle and went to sit at the table with the rest of the Gryffindors and waited for Professor McGonnagall to enter with the first years to be sorted. At last the doors to the Great Hall opened wide and Professor McGonnagall and the new students entered. They stood before the Sorting Hat as Professor McGonnagall began to call out names.

Abbott, Hubert… HUFFLEPUFF!

Bones, Robert… HUFFLEPUFF!

Boot, Tammy…RAVENCLAW!

Crabbe, Michael…SLYTHERIN!

Granger, Molly…GRYFFINDOR!

Trunchbull, Agatha… SLYTHERIN!

Thomas, William…GRYFFINDOR!

Turpin, Jacob… RAVENCLAW!

Once all the new students were all sorted into their new houses The hat was put away and Professor Dumbledore stood up and made his usual announcements about no magic in the corridors, the forest is off limits, the list of banned items is on Mr. Filch's office door. Then, as his announcements concluded the plates were magically filled with food. The students now started stuffing it in their mouths. Just then, Nearly Headless Nick appeared with the rest of the ghosts and began to float about the hall and the house ghosts began to converse with their houses.

When the feast concluded Hermione, Susan Bones, Terry Boot, and Pansy Parkinson led their first years to the dormitories as the older students set off for their dormitories on their own. Harry and Ron went up to the dormitories and there met up with Seamus, Neville, and Dean. Dean seemed quite pleased that his brother was in Gryffindor with them. They then went off to their room and went to bed and slept until it was time to wake up for their first day of classes in their second to last year at Hogwarts before they went out into the real world.


	6. The First day

The First Day

The following morning was typical for the first day. Everyone was disappointed that it was Monday, as they wished it was Saturday or Sunday. At breakfast the schedules were passed out. Harry and Co. had a terrible Monday. They had Potions first thing with Slytherin followed by Defense of the Defense against the Dark Arts.After Lunch was a little improved. They had Charms with Ravenclaw before Transfiguration with Hufflepuff.

After breakfast the three of them prepared themselves for one of their least favorite classes, The fact that they were with Slytherin as well as their head of house who tended to show a little too much favoritism didn't help matters either. They started by handing in their homework from over the summer and started learning other things. Today Snape was teaching them about the Draught of the Living Dead. If Harry had been paying attention in his class five years ago he would have known he had to mix asphodel and wormwood, but he hadn't been paying attention so he didn't know what to mix to achieve the final product.

Defense against the Dark Arts was definitely an improvement from the last year. Their new teacher talked very carefully and had that familiar slight accent. His name was Professor Gray. He picked up where Umbridge should have picked up and actually let them use magic. He was much more popular than Umbridge ever was. He taught them about the theory of non-verbal spells and then let them practice them. The D.A. may have helped them the previous year, but it hadn't helped them with what they now had to master.

McGonnagall and Flitwick taught them about non-verbal spells as well. It didn't make any more sense the third time as it did the first. It was still really confusing. After their classes and had finished their homework when they were certain that Hagrid was done teaching for the day they went down to visit him. When they got there Hagrid wasn't there at the moment, Fang was though. Five minutes later Hagrid showed up. He apologized for making them wait there and explained that he was Grawp. Apparently he was much better behaved now. They went inside and had a cup of tea while they caught up.

"So how are ya lot?"

"We're pretty well, thanks Hagrid" Hermione answered.

"How were you' summers?"

"Harry came and spent most of the summer with me and Ron was in Romania".

"Really? How was it Ron? How's Charlie doin'"

"He's good. He's married actually" Ron responded.

They talked for the majority of the afternoon before they all had to go to dinner. The four of them set out for the Great Hall together. When they got there Hagrid headed off for the staff table while the trio sat at the Gryffindor table. Molly told them about her first day. She had Herbology, History of Magic, and Flying. After that they went up to their common room and Harry started trying to find dates for Quidditch try-outs as he was the captain and he eventually fell asleep in the common room working on that. Katie Bell, Ron, and Hermione began to believe that if they weren't careful he would turn into Wood Jr.


	7. Quidditch

Quidditch

Harry awoke late the following morning and was almost late for breakfast. He was very fortunate that nobody noticed. He was really hoping he wouldn't get in trouble for it. Even though he was a Quidditch captain that wasn't an excuse for being late to breakfast. The only ones who noticed his tardiness were Ron and Hermione.

"Sorry mate. We meant to wake you, but we got distracted helping Molly get something".

"Don't worry about it. I don't think any of the teachers noticed" Harry said certainly.

"You sure Potter?" asked a cold and familiar voice behind him.

Harry turned to see Snape standing behind him.

"Good morning Professor".

"What gives you the assumption that you can sleep in later than the rest of your schoolmates?"

"I didn't mean to Professor. I had no idea what time it was".

"Excuses. Detention, my office next Friday at 8:00 SHARP. DO NOT BE LATE POTTER!"

"Yes Sir".

"Wow, you were a little overconfident Harry" Hermione remarked.

"Thanks Hermione. I didn't know that" Harry said sarcastically.

"Did you at least find a day?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, Saturday afternoon. I'm going to talk to Madam Hooch about booking the field after she's done teaching.

Saturday came a lot faster than anyone would have expected. Harry had managed to book the field for try-outs for the afternoon. They were getting two chasers to replace Alicia and Angelina. Kirke and Sloper were convinced that they should try out as well.

Some of the people who tried out for chaser were pathetic as were some of the people trying out for beater as Kirke and Sloper wanted to try out for some weird reason seeing as they were already on the team. In the end the new chaser positions were filled by Ginny Weasley and Seamus Finnigan. Kirke was replaced by Dennis Creevey and Sloper was good enough to remain on the team.

After try-outs the team found uniforms for their three new players. Kirke handed his off to Dennis and it fit him quite well. After that, Harry made the announcement that the new players would need training sessions with him before their first game and he would let them know personally when that would be and would let the rest of the team know when their first practice was.

He then returned to the dorm with Ron and Hermione and started his homework for Monday and got about halfway before he went to bed through Ron and Hermione's nagging. They wouldn't let himself fall asleep in the Common Room and not wake p on time again. Snape could very well give him another detention and that was not something he needed this early in the school year when he also had three new players to train as well as Quidditch Practices that had to happen as well along with schoolwork. He eventually fell asleep dreading the detention with Snape on Friday.


	8. Detention with Snape

Author's Note: Sorry about not updating in SO LONG! I've been trying to figure out where to go with this. Sorry again for the delay!

Detention with Snape

The week went by too fast for Harry's liking. Classes were getting harder and harder. And the fact that Harry had detention with Snape that Saturday night didn't help things either. By Friday he was a total mess. He had a mountain of homework for the weekend, he needed to start training the new Quidditch players as soon as possible, and then there was detention.

On Saturday Harry got up bright and early to avoid any further detentions and went down to the common room and got some of his homework done before Hermione came down and joined him a couple hours later.

"You know you should sleep in on the weekend. Remember you've got that detention this evening."

"Yeah I know. I was trying to avoid any further detentions, so I got up early."

"Well, that is one way to do it you're right. And it's good that you're trying to get your homework out of the way so you have the rest of the weekend to relax."

The rest of the day was a pretty typical Saturday: Hermione telling them to do their homework, visiting Hagrid, and hanging out by the lake. The day went by so fast that they didn't even notice how fast it went. It was soon time for dinner.

After dinner was over Harry went up to his dormitory to get his cloak as it was really quite chilly down in the dungeons at night. After hi did so he said farewell to Ron and Hermione and made his way down to the dungeons only to be caught by Filch at the entrance at quarter till.

"What are you doing out so late Potter?"

"I'm supposed to see Professor Snape."

"And why couldn't you do that BEFORE dinner?"

"Because I have detention with him, " came Harry's reply before proceeding into the dungeons.

Five previous years in the dungeons did not prepare Harry for this because the dungeons were big and confusing, and all the rooms looked the same from the outside. The only bit of knowledge that Harry had was that Snape's office was across the hall from his classroom. With this information Harry made it to his office at 7:59.

"So Potter, are you ready to start?" came Professor Snape's voice.

"Yes" came Harry's reply knowing that that was the answer that he was going to accept.

"Good. Now, tonight you are going to sort out old, decayed, moldy flobberworms from the good ones. No Questions!"

Harry soon proceeded to sort out the flobberworms. As he did so, Snape began to correct papers next to him so there was no conceivable way for him to escape. Harry also noticed that he still had the mark of Voldemort on his arm, which, Harry was certain, meant that Voldemort was still gaining power and the war between good and evil had only just begun.

At 10:00 Snape allowed Harry to return to his dorm. Harry was really quite happy that he had brought his cloak along because, as he predicted, it was quite chilly down there normally , and even more so at night. When he got back up to the common room Ron and Hermione were still up. Harry told them about the detention and the mark still on Smnape's left arm.

"You see Hermione?" came Ron's answer, "This PROVES that Snape is up to something.

"No, it proves that he USED TO be on Voldemort's side and that the mark doesn't go away like some do.

Harry's reply to both of them was "It is possible that he's on our side, but I still don't completely trust him though".

The trio left it at that and went off to their dorms to tuck in for the night. Harry lay in his bet for 30 minutes wondering: "Could he REALLY be on our side? Or could it REALLY just be his cover?" He thought on this and eventually fell asleep with this thought still turning in his mind and discovered that he'd have to ask Ron and Hermione that very question in the morning.


	9. The Day After

The Day after

In the morning Harry approached Ron and Hermione with the question that had been turning in his mind the previous night. Ron seemed convinced that it was just his cover to pretend to be on their side. Hermione, however, took a different approach.

"Just because you two don't like him and he doesn't like you doesn't make him a villain you know."

"Well then, what does it make him then Hermione?" came Ron's reply.

"An arrogant brat" joked Harry.

" No it does NOT".

They left it at that and went down to breakfast and were surprised to see that Snape was not at the staff table this morning.

"Maybe you wore him out last night Harry" came Ron's response.

"I highly doubt that," said Harry.

"What do you mean? Why else wouldn't he be here?"

"Maybe he's just running a little late," said Hermione just as Snape walked up to the staff table.

And Hermione was right. HE was just running a couple minutes late that morning.

"He was probably correcting papers or writing or writing Monday's lesson plan" was Hermione's explanation for his tardiness.

"Yeah, but I got Detention for being late" said Harry.

"Yeah, well, he's a teacher. He had work to do".

"Who cares? It's completely unfair that he doesn't get punished for being late."

"What could happen to him?" was Ron's response. "He can't get fired or probation for being a couple minutes late".

"Too bad" was Harry's mutual response.

The trio spent the remainder of the day finishing homework; sitting by the lake; walking around talking; and visiting Hagrid. After dinner Harry sat in the common room deciding when he would train his three new players since Quidditch season would be starting the next month. He ended up deciding on training Ginny and Seamus together since they were going to be trained for the same position. And decided that he would train Ginny and Seamus the following Saturday afternoon and Dennis on Sunday with a team practice the Saturday after that. He would also give the newest players a practice just the three of them the day before so they would be confident with what they were supposed to be doing without too much pressure of having just learned what they were doing


	10. The Debate Continues

So Sorry about the delay. I didn't give up on it. I just was suffering from a bad case of Writer's block

The Debate Continues…

Hermione still continued to be stubborn about Snape for the next few weeks. "Snape is on OUR side" she said, but not very convincingly at all. Although she believed Snape to be a powerful ally on their side, Harry and Ron had a completely different idea.

"He's had something against Harry since first year, you can't forget that." (RW)

"He's also saved his life two times at LEAST." (HG)

"Yeah, but that could have easily just been his cover." (H)

"What have YOU got against Prof. Snape ANYWAY Harry?" (HG)

"He HATES me. You must see that" (H)

"No I do NOT! What gives you that idea?" (HG)

"He's hated him since first year. AND, he's displayed as such quite obviously." (RW)

This continued on for another few weeks until it was nearly time for Quidditch to start. This of course led to more debate regarding the fact that Snape will occasionally referee the games so he had an easy opportunity to harm Harry, or worse.

"Honestly Ron, the last time he refereed was to keep QUIRREL from nearly killing Harry AGAIN" (HG)

Once Quidditch season had actually started, the debate had died down seeing as both Harry and Ron were busy and were more concentrated on beating Slytherin down to where there was nothing left of them. However…Harry's trouble regarding Hermione that had begun that summer, was still no better than it was before. He still was feeling like she was becoming more than just a friend to him, though he never said anything about it other than inside his head. If he said a word about it, than Voldemort would take advantage of this for sure. And…if their suspicions about Snape were TRUE, than it was by far SO much safer to both of them (as well as Ron) to not say anything about it.

Snape continued to be his usual self. If he was merely using this as a cover to conceal what he REALLY was the trio, as well as the whole school, would find out soon enough. Snape was a very shifty person and could very easily conceal if he WAS a spy for the OTHER side.


	11. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

A/N: Sorry about the delay. I had no idea where to go with this and I've had no time to think about it. I will try as I work on the story to not spoil the last book for those of you who haven't finished it yet.

**Gryffindor Vs. Slytherin**

Soon the Quidditch season was getting close enough to the first game of the year as November was approaching. The new Gryffindor players were doing reasonably well considering that one of them was Muggle-born so didn't have his whole life to learn all the rules. They were prepared to bean Slytherin down to nothingness and were greatly looking forward to that.

The morning of the match, there was great excitement at the breakfast table. Three of the four houses were greatly looking forward to seeing Slytherin reduced to nothingness. But the hopes of some of those were crushed when word got out that Snape was going to be refereeing the match. It especially got Harry and Ron worked up.

"What reason does he have for refereeing this match anyway?!" (RW).

"I don't know, but it can't possibly be good since Quirrell tried to kill me during the first match first year. This would be a great opportunity for Snape to try something" (HP).

"Or he could simply be trying to make sure that nothing DOES happen since Harry was almost killed in the first match first year, so he doesn't want a repeat performance" (HG).

"Whose side are you ON, Hermione?!?!?!" (RW).

"I'm on your side of course"(HG).

"Then why are you so quick at defending him?!" (RW).

"Just drop it you guys, arguing isn't going to solve anything" (HP)

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We should probably get to the Pitch though Harry. We don't want to be late, and you're CAPTAIN" (RW).

"Yeah, let's. See you later Hermione" (HP), though Harry really did not feel like parting with her so soon.

I really should start guarding my actions around her. If Snape IS on the other side, he could use this against me and I can't risk Hermione getting hurt, which is what's bound to happen if Voldemort gets knowledge of this.

The match went well. Snape didn't try anything, so they assumed that he either was making SURE that nothing happened (that being Hermione's idea) or he was trying to gather information that he could use later (Ron's).

"What information could he POSSIBLY get from refereeing a QUIDDITCH match Ronald?! He'd get much more information simply watching the match and talking with the other teachers near him" (HG).

"She's got a point you know, Ron. You can't learn anything except the skill of a team or player from a Quidditch match. You can't get anything that could possibly help Voldemort at all" (HP).

"Why are you agreeing with HER, Harry? She's been trying to convince us that Snape's on our side for MONTHS!" (RW).

"He IS on our side" (HG).

The debate continued to go on and they had completely forgotten that they had won the game, so they should be happy, but they were too preoccupied with arguing and winning what seemed to be an un-winnable battle. Harry knew that they both displayed good strong arguments, both for Snape being a friend as well as a foe. Harry could not figure out what to believe anymore.

Why can't I figure this out? He hates me, yet he's tried to save my life on multiple occasions. I don't know what to think anymore. Should I trust Snape, or not? I guess I'll just watch closely and watch my back and hopefully nothing can go wrong with that approach.

_And be sure to not display too much affection for Hermione in his presence. Even if he is on our side, I can't risk it._

With that in mind, Harry resolved to head up to the Common Room with Ron and Hermione for they still had another two long months before Christmas break.

I hope I'll be able to visit with the Weasleys or with Hermione and her parents this year. I don't want to stay here alone if I don't have to.

And so if Harry found ways to occupy his time and thoughts, then the next two months would go by fast and he would soon be away from Snape, at least for a while.


End file.
